Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[JWR]

I run a 7.5 ft Alamo SHD-88 on an 81HP MF 2660 which is no doubt tractor overkill. Still the 7 or 8 ft flail is a heavy machine and I always feel overkill is better than being under powered. I don't know how committed you are to using the MF150 long-term but it will probably handle the 8ft flail in lighter materials. Depends a lot on what you intend longer-term. I had the MF 2660 since 2011 and got the flail at an auction 2 yrs ago for next to nothing. Put some parts on it and have found it to be a very useful attachment for about 1/10 the cost of a new one.

There are many of these fail mowers around in auctions and sold used because so many of them are used by highway departments. Since you are in the market for a used flail mower you can try it on the MF 150 and if you conclude it needs a bigger tractor, sell the mower and find a smaller one. With a little luck someone on TBN will chime in here with direct MF150 flail mower experience.

I had not seen Leonz post 6272 when I first typed this. You have as much or more power than the 1953 Ford Jubilee so you should be OK per Leonz comments. However, I did not see mention of how wide the JD 25A was that Leonz describes using.

 

[cscholz]

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Hello and good morning Carl,

If you still have the instructions for the V belt tension gauge follow them exactly for one belt.As long as the three V belts have the same lot number you will be fine.

Once you have the gauge correctly set on the outer belt follow the V belt gauge directions for the tension measurements EXACTLY for how the V belt is tensioned on the flail mower.

Be sure to spin the V belt a little to measure the tension at several points on the V-belt.


Happy Mowing.

Hi Leonz,

Using the gauge is not my issue. What I don't know is the target tension. The instructions for the gauge give some guidelines for cars and trucks - typical combinations of drive pulley and water pump/alternator/etc. The range is about 50-100 lbs and then there's a comment that if it's a 2 belt system, you should divide that tension in half for each belt.

It seems to me that there should be a known target tension (in lbs or kgs) for the 3 belts on the TM1900. Again, I just guessed at 50 lbs (for 1 belt) which would imply 150 lbs total for a 3 belt system. But that was just a guess.

I'm just trying to get a tension number to adjust to.

Carl

 

[thoner7]

Hello thoner7,

My father used a 1953 gas Ford Jubilee with his John Deere 25A to knock down 15 foot+ goldenrod to reclaim 12 acres of old pasture.
After that he mowed 4 acre blocks every two weeks to keep it 2 inches tall.

Your mule will be fine with a used JD25A, 290 or 390.

A flail mower uses the verticut method of brush and grass mowing where it employs a side slicer knife, scoop knife or hammer knife and the flail mower rotor speed of rotation is 2,200" feet per minute. Depending on the design of the flail mower rotor it will have either a linear knife mounting row that will have 2, 3 or 4 rows of mounting stations or with the European made cast hammer knife flail mowers they can be spiral mounted on the flail mower rotor.

The five horsepower per foot of cutting edge is misleading that is just sales talk. The mules PTO horsepower is what you need to work with and as the flail mower is belt driven through the one to one right angle gearbox to the drive pulley and through the V belts to the driven pulley.


A flail mower has many more inches of cutting edge to mow with and if side slicers are used double the cutting edge surface length if the unused edge is added to the total cutting edge length.

There's a lot of info there, and I can't say I understand it all. Double edged side slicers?!?!

What would you say is the minimum PTO HP needed for an 8 foot mower in the conditions I described?

 

[Fallon]

There's a lot of info there, and I can't say I understand it all. Double edged side slicers?!?!

What would you say is the minimum PTO HP needed for an 8 foot mower in the conditions I described?

50+. I run a 7' on a 40hp (engine) L4060HSTC. Think it's under 35pto. Heavy thick grass really slows me down, Colorado grass fields & light to moderate brush not so much.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I'm in the market for a used flail mower with a 7 or 8 foot cut. A Ford, JD, Alamo, that's what I'm seeing.

With bush hogs the rule of thumb is 5 hp per foot of cut, as a minimum. Is that still true of flail mowers?

I will be mowing just grasses. Maybe letting it get 18" high, cutting to 4 or 6" a few times per year.

Im linking to a video for a 96" flail. WoodMaxx FM-96H Flail mower - YouTube

I picked this video because the weeds/grass shown is exactly what my land looks like now. In the future I hope to never let it get like that however, this would be a worst case scenario for me. In this video the tractor he is on is a Montana 4940 which has 44 PTO HP. Is this an accurate representation of power needed? He is cutting fairly slowly, but I doubt I'd go much fast in reality.

I have a Perkins diesel MF 150 at the moment.

If you check the Woodmaxx site they specify minimum 50 PTO HP for that cutter.

FM-96H PTO Flail Mower (96")

Mower-Comparison-Chart.png - Google Drive

 

[leonz]

Hi Leonz,

Using the gauge is not my issue. What I don't know is the target tension. The instructions for the gauge give some guidelines for cars and trucks - typical combinations of drive pulley and water pump/alternator/etc. The range is about 50-100 lbs and then there's a comment that if it's a 2 belt system, you should divide that tension in half for each belt.

It seems to me that there should be a known target tension (in lbs or kgs) for the 3 belts on the TM1900. Again, I just guessed at 50 lbs (for 1 belt) which would imply 150 lbs total for a 3 belt system. But that was just a guess.

I'm just trying to get a tension number to adjust to.

Carl

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Hello Carl,


50-55 pounds tension should be fine with the triple pulleys and the 3 belt wide tension snubber. I am still waiting on a response from caroni for a number of flail mower questions to help the fellow members.

 

[thoner7]

If you check the Woodmaxx site they specify minimum 50 PTO HP for that cutter.

FM-96H PTO Flail Mower (96")

Mower-Comparison-Chart.png - Google Drive

I saw that, but then they run it behind a 44 horse machine in their demo lol.

 

[cscholz]

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Hello Carl,


50-55 pounds tension should be fine with the triple pulleys and the 3 belt wide tension snubber. I am still waiting on a response from caroni for a number of flail mower questions to help the fellow members.

Thanks! I will check them again before the next mowing.

Carl

 

[leonz]

There's a lot of info there, and I can't say I understand it all. Double edged side slicers?!?!

What would you say is the minimum PTO HP needed for an 8 foot mower in the conditions I described?

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Hello thoner7,

When my father first started using a Mathews Company Lawn Genie pick up mower it was a towed 36 inch flail mower with a Briggs & Stratton 8 horsepower engine.

He mowed a mile long jogging track for my mother in the old pasture as it was not safe for here to jog on the county road.

The goldenrod and other brush was at least fifteen feet tall in places and he mowed the jogging track for her using a hydrostatic drive wheel horse lawn tractor towing the lawn genie making two passes to mow it down to 2 inches tall so she could jog on the path without fear of tripping and hurting herself.

He made the first 2 passes and then kept mowing it down wider and picking up what he mowed so she would not slip on the clippings.



Side slicer flail mower knives have 2 cutting edges which allow the user to simply flip the knife to the sharp side and continue mowing.
That is what I was referring to these mowers having double the cutting edge length of any rotary cutter or reel mower.


Your mule has a 12 speed transmission with the hydro low and high in each gear and 45 gross horsepower with 38 HP at the PTO

You have plenty of power for an 7 foot JD 25A or 7 foot JD 290 or JD 8 foot cut model 390 finish flail mower.

There are a lot of good used JD25A and 290 flail mowers for sale with the seven foot cut and used 8 foot cut model JD 390 flail mowers.


Decide on which brand of flail mower you want and what cutting width and then go from there and we will
help you with what ever you need as your mule has plenty of power for the mower you pick.

You just have to be more aware of the chaff screen and how soon It may plug from any fine dust and chaff
and checking the oil bath air cleaner before and halfway in the mowing job to make sure it has enough oil in
it to clean the diesel engines intake air when you mow.

Once you have the flail mower set up with a 2 inch cut your mowing will be very easy to do.


If you purchase a used JD flail mower parts will be easy to obtain and much more quickly as well. you will spend less money on a used JD flail mower as long as you use tractor house or auction time to buy it and also check with the local JD dealers to see if they have a used flail mower in stock from a trade.


No worries we will help you.

 

[lostcreekranch]

I saw that, but then they run it behind a 44 horse machine in their demo lol.

I have doubts that a 49 HP tractor produces 44 PTO HP?

My LS XR4155HC (55 HP) is rated at 44 PTO HP.

My LS XR4046HC (46 HP) was rated at 37.3 PTO HP.

My NH TL100A (98 HP) is rated at 87.2 PTO HP.

The Montana tractors are built by LS.